You have a spare room in a flat you already live in, and you want someone reliable in it by next month. In Nigeria that is a surprisingly hard thing to advertise: the property portals are built for agents listing whole houses and flats, so "one room in my three-bedroom in Yaba" has nowhere to go, and most people fall back on a WhatsApp group and hope. Here is how to write the ad, where to put it, and how to sort the replies.
In this guide
Why a Spare Room Has Nowhere to Go
A whole-property listing assumes a landlord or agent, a full rent figure and a tenancy. A room share is a different thing entirely — you are letting part of your own home, the money is a share of rent and bills, and the real decision on both sides is about the person, not the property. Listing that as if it were a one-bedroom flat gets you the wrong enquiries, and paying an agent 10% to find you a flatmate makes no sense at all.
ShortRent treats it as its own category. Roommates & Flatshares sits alongside shortlets, monthly and yearly rentals as a listing type of its own, browsable by state and city, with prices shown as a monthly share rather than a full rent. Posting is free, there is no agent in the middle, and people who reply are messaging you directly.
How to Post Your Room, Step by Step
- Download the free ShortRent app and create an account — no listing fee, no subscription, no commission when the room is taken.
- Start a new listing and choose Roommate as the listing type. This is what puts you on the flatshare browse pages rather than in with whole apartments.
- Under Monthly contribution, enter the share you expect for that one room, not the rent for the whole flat — the price people see is what they would actually pay.
- Set the state and city accurately. Location is how nearly everyone filters, and it is what puts your room on the city browse page for your area.
- Add photos, write the description (see below), and publish. Replies arrive as chats in the app, so you can size someone up before arranging to meet.
What to Write: A Sample Ad You Can Copy
The ads that fill fastest answer the questions a stranger would otherwise have to ask over three days of messages. Cover the room, the flat, the money, who already lives there and who you are hoping for. Something like this:
Title: Room in a 3-bedroom flat in Yaba — ₦120,000/month
The room: Your own room, roughly 3m by 4m, furnished with a bed and wardrobe. Shares one bathroom with one other person. Free from 1 September.
The flat: Third floor, three bedrooms, two of us living here now. Prepaid meter, inverter backup for lights and fans, borehole water, gated compound with security at night.
The money: ₦120,000 a month, paid on the 1st, plus a refundable ₦120,000 deposit. Electricity, water and waste split three ways — about ₦15,000 each in a normal month. Internet is ₦8,000 each.
Us: Two of us in our late twenties, both working, out most weekdays. Quiet on weeknights, occasional visitors at the weekend.
Looking for: Someone working or studying, tidy, comfortable sharing a kitchen. Happy to talk through guests, cleaning and house rules before anyone commits.
Getting around: Ten minutes' walk to the bus stop, about 25 minutes to the Island in normal traffic.
Two things to be honest about, because they surface anyway and cost you a viewing when they do: the power situation, and anything a new person would find irritating — a bathroom shared three ways, a noisy generator next door, a strict no-guests rule. Saying it upfront filters out the people who would have left in two months.
Photos That Get Replies
- Shoot in daylight with the curtains open, and tidy first — a made bed and a clear floor genuinely change the response rate.
- Photograph the actual room being let, from the doorway so the whole space is visible, not just a corner of it.
- Include the kitchen, the bathroom they would use, and the living room. Leaving out the bathroom reads as hiding it.
- One shot of the building entrance or compound helps people place it and shows the security setup.
- Never use photos of a room that is not yours — people notice, and it is the fastest way to look like a scam.
Screening the People Who Reply
You are choosing someone to live with, so treat the chat as the first round. Ask what they do and where they work or study, when they want to move, how long they plan to stay, and how they will pay. Then meet in person at the flat, with your existing flatmates there if you have any — everyone who lives there should meet the person before anyone agrees. Our roommate question checklist covers what to work through, and once you have agreed, write it down using the roommate agreement template.
Take deposits only after they have seen the flat and you have both agreed the terms, and give a written receipt. If someone wants to pay a deposit for a room sight-unseen and move in tomorrow, slow down — that pattern shows up in our rental scams guide for a reason.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is it free to post a roommate ad on ShortRent?
Yes. Posting a flatshare listing, keeping it live, chatting with people who reply and filling the room are all free — there is no listing fee, no subscription and no commission.
Where can I advertise a spare room in Nigeria?
Most property portals only take whole-property listings from agents, so spare rooms end up in WhatsApp groups. ShortRent has a Roommates and Flatshares listing type built for exactly this: you post the monthly share for one room and it appears on the flatshare browse pages for your city.
What should I charge for a spare room?
Start from what comparable rooms in your area are asking — the flatshare browse pages show the live range per city — then adjust for room size, whether it is en suite, how many people share the bathroom, and whether your price includes bills. Say clearly which it is.
Can I post that I'm looking for a room rather than offering one?
The flatshare category is built around a room someone can move into, so it is the person with the space who posts. If you are looking, browse the live flatshares in your city and message listers directly — new rooms are added regularly, so check back.
Do I need my landlord's permission to take a flatmate?
Check your tenancy agreement — many contain a clause on subletting or on who may occupy the property. Telling your landlord upfront is safer than being found out later. See our guide to reading a Nigerian tenancy agreement.
Post Your Spare Room for Free
List a room share on ShortRent and chat with potential flatmates directly — no listing fee, no agent.
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